Suicide Kings
by ladymonahan
Summary: Victoria Winters rescues her mortal beloved in a frenzy of vampiric murder.


**Kim Ulander**

The kids explained to him, or 'Charlie', about the situation they were mixed into. Apparently rich pretty boy number two, had a sister who was kidnapped. They got packages and a basic hostage situation was set up with whatever happens to her, would happen to him. He didn't pay much attention to the details, thinking why bother they were fucked to begin with for touching him and bringing him into such a situation. He raised a brow and dropped it: his second gesture in place of the shrug he couldn't make, with his shoulders bond to the chair.

Something that did catch Kim's attention was a very small stain of red on medical suit the quiet one was wearing. He narrowed his eyes, looking from the spot to the kid's eyes asking curiously: "Is that blood?" Now he felt a wave of worry start to eat at him. What if Victoria couldn't find him? What if no one even bothered to try?

The blond one spoke up, making his way towards him with a smartass attitude perfectly painted across his smug little face. Kim watched him with an intense gaze. "I asked you, who's blood is that." The boys began to grow nervous, the aura shifted, one even stood up to give a few feet of space for what was coming. A growing ball of panic balled up inside him as Kim repeated the question, his voice tense and low waiting for his answer.

Rich pretty boy number two moved to take something off the small corner table just beside the chair Kim was strapped to, the answer laid inside the tin bowl and while the boy brought it to his lap he looked anxiously inside, seeing that it was filled with ice...red tinted ice.

His brows came together in confusion upon seeing a finger in there: a pinky which had been severed from it's person. But... he didn't feel any pain. Was this a joke? He moved his bandaged right hand, curling it upwards and strained to open his palm as best he could to spread all five fingers. There was the blood misted over his palm, and there was the little hallow where his pinky belonged.

His heart beat inside his chest, the room grew cold and his face drained its color; bumpbump bumpbump. The sound echoed across the room with his eyes torn away from his hand up with a distant blank gaze. Silence again. And than he snapped! He screamed and jerked forward and back, rocking the chair acting like a maniac while he threatened them. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" He yelled and cried as though he could finally feel the pain striking up his nerves to his very chest and head.

The thrashing from the sight of his missing digit caused the man to rock the heavy chair to the ground, sending him along with it creating a solid thump. The boys in the room were saying things to one another, but they sounded to far away even as they came to their fallen hostage and worked at once to pull him back up into place.

Kim sat there, frozen within the tight duct tape that was horribly unjust to his blood circulation and movements. The world was spinning and he felt sick and numb all over, only when one of the boys fixed the IV in his vein did he flinch with another horrible jolt. He wanted no one to touch him; he wanted to be left alone; he wanted his Victoria. But for some strange and unusual reason he was stuck there, for what would seem like a lifetime.

**Victoria Winters**

Her heart gave a hard and nauseating slam in her chest, as the events with Kim happened miles away. Something was wrong - harshly and immensely incorrect. Something had happened to him that was unbelievable, and it brought sickness to her stomach. "Something's wrong," She said, tensing before giving her head a shake to clear it. "Something happened to him.." With the very words, the three immortals took off rapidly. They flew; Faster than any piece of man-made transportation. They had gone so swiftly that they were invisible to the naked eye, wind whirling around them and sights blurring into a mixture of different colors. She had never gone so fast in her entire existence, and it almost frightened her - made her weary. Though she was aware of what she was capable of, this was entirely new. What else was more advanced than she possibly dreamed it to be?

When she arrived at the gates of the manor, her blue hues had drowned within her deep black pupils. They reflected in the darkness, in the haunting way a feline's would in a dark room. With a quick flash of movement, she pushed her feet off of the grass to launch herself over the guarding brick wall - flying half way into the yard before she examined the house. She could smell his blood now.. Smell Kim's blood and his fear; His frustration. Beyond that, she could hear the heartbeat of six other's.. She could feel the blood pumping through their veins; So clearly that she could almost feel it, warm and running elegantly down her throat to nourish and warm her cold body. This lustful thirst claimed her mind, blurred it until she could hear and feel nothing else.. Think nothing else.

With a low growl, the girl crouched on the ground before springing upward, easily on top of the roof and catching it by it's tiles with a gentle thud. It was then, without much passing time that the fuse box on the side of the house hissed, throwing off sparks from her mere presence, ridding the manor of it's internal luminescence. She smirked softly, almost amused.. Oh yes, what a show this would be. They would pay for their ignorance; and for the harm they had bestowed upon her beloved, they would pay with their lives - and they would parish screaming.

In a quick flash of movement, she leapt through an upstairs window; Crashing through the glass and whipping up to the ceiling as the glass shrieked and clinked to the ground with loud, abrupt shattering. Feeling the tension, she crawled on the ceiling in swift, blurred movements as she made her way towards Kim's scent. The movements made as if acted in some horror film, or written in a book; As if she had somehow transformed into a demonic creature under the possession of the devil himself. Her piercing canines had lengthened until they hung down from being hidden from her lips, eyes reflecting in the dark room and lighting it in the darkness. She smirked lightly, listening and freezing upon the ceiling as one of the boys shuffled gradually towards her.. Twas time to make her presence known.

With a low snarl, the girl dropped down from the ceiling and landed perfectly upon her feet right before the human man, feeling as he stopped directly in front of her - eyes widening. "What the fu-" She growled, upon him in a mere second and gripping a hand around the back of his neck - jerking his head forcefully to her. He hadn't but two moments to scream before the shriek was cut short, and she was forcing her fangs easily into his beautiful, fleshy, warm source. Clamping her jaws around his throat, she curled her lips over his teeth before giving her head a swift tug backward, ripping his throat easily from his neck before spitting out from her jaws and throwing the body carelessly, listening as it crashed into something and flopped with a thud into broken glass.

Chaos erupted rather quickly, and she heard the room go silent as a grave before men started calling out and rushing about, and she took again to the ceiling. Crouching upon it on all fours, licking the sweet vital fluid from her lips and swallowing it down. The frenzy overtook her, claiming her mind and snatching away her senses. With a low warning snarl, the rest happened so quickly. Suddenly, she was in a large dining room - the table covered with playing cards and empty bottles of alcohol - ash trays with half smoked stogies. With a low growl, she dropped down again from the ceiling, twisting her slender body into the air until she landed on her feet in the door way to make her ghostly entrance.

Blood had stained her shirt already, from where it sprayed from her first victim, soaking it to her and sticking it against her marble flesh. It had grown cold now, cold and sticky - and slowly, she craned her neck around to stare upon the men that had froze in the room, staring at her with eyes wide in horror. Curling her lips over her fangs, she glared about the room with a gaze that could burn into a man's very soul and set it aflame.

She was a disturbing scene to behold, to anyone let alone a stranger. A horrific monster, straight from a horror movie, coated in blood and crouching with long, threatening canines and clawed fingers bearing nails in long, sharpened points. A once beautiful young woman, claimed to evil.. Turned into the deadly predator she was, though had never shown Kim to such immense lengths; But in fact protected him from it at all costs.

She could not protect him now.. This had gone too far. They had stolen her beloved and wounded him - he was slowly bleeding to death, though they did nothing - played cards, got drunk. No. This would go no further. Whether it threatened her relationship with her mortal lover or otherwise - whether it scared him away - it ended now.

All at once, the five remaining boys became aware of it.

Launching herself forward, she caught one and pushed him to the ground, snarling menacingly as she sunk her teeth into his neck - listening to him scream out as she drained him swiftly; Precisely taking but five seconds before feeling the heart stop. The liquid was sweet ecstasy down her throat, warming her and causing her to almost moan against her victim's flesh. Her teeth had sunk into soft muscle, and her body was trembling with the adrenaline that pumped through her as she ended him - tossing him to the floor once finished, and standing full height.

Blood fell naturally from behind her mouth, gravity pulling it in the only direction it was familiar with, flowing down her chin and dripping slowly off to stain her shirt and decorate her neck and collarbone with crimson beads. Before they could further react, from their startled shouts, she was upon another and smashing his head into a wall - exerting such force from her preternatural strength that it shattered and caved in his skull; Splattering blood and gore from him, spraying it upon her and everyone near. She smirked, letting out a low growl as she tossed the lifeless form to the side.

A blonde-haired young man brought a silver pistol from the lining of his jacket, tears streaming down his face in terror. She smelled the bodily functions leaving him; Piss running down his leg and soaking into his pants, leaking onto the floor and shooting. "Bret, shoot her d****t!" Someone called, voice filled with trembling terror. The bullet hit her square in the forehead, knocking her back and flinging her onto the floor with a gentle gasp. "What ever the f**k you are," He began, though silenced as she flung herself upon him, gripping him by his hair and wrenching his neck back, breaking the wrist that held the gun to hear it fall to the ground with a heavy, metallic thunk as she drained him of his sweet essence in the matter of seconds. The bullet hissed slightly, pushed from her head as the wound instantly healed itself with the gaining of fresh essence. He had screamed, though very briefly - it was sweet music to her ears.. Sweet suffering. She dropped him carelessly when finished, faced the remaining three.

The next two went quickly; They both tried to run, and they screamed at their end as she broke their limbs and wrenched her balled fists within their manes. She broke her hands into the chest of one of them, claiming the heart before licking the sweet blood from it and throwing tossing it carelessly to hear it splat on the floor in a squishy red mess.

The last one remained, though he didn't run - gripping a chair and lifting it off it's legs. Five dead boys surrounded the room, lights flickering back on to reveal the gore only briefly before dying again and leaving them in a candle-lit dining room. "Stay back," He warned, eyes wild with numb fear. The frenzy was not over yet.. Her mind whirled, crazed with the taste of various men's blood; That sweet sensation of revenge.

Shooting forward, she met with the wood of the chair; Feeling it break over her in a quick, forceful act of defense. With a low growl, she shot forward and gripped him by the arms, breaking them at his elbows before kicking his legs out from under him, bringing him to his knees as she gripped him by the hair and wrenched his head back violently. He had a beautiful face.. Twas a shame his end had to come so abruptly. Glancing at Kim, her eyes reflecting in the dark, her eyes softened at the state of him.. But her fist tightened on the boy's hair. No.. Softness would not come until it was finished. "Kim," She whispered, through a demonically feminine cracked voice. "You were late for dinner."

With the words spoken, she leaned down and sunk her teeth into the man's neck, drinking from him savagely before she had had enough, and threw him down to the wooden floor with a heavy thump. Rising then to her full height, she stood for a moment and stared down at her mess; Slightly bewildered with what she had just created. The act of merciless revenge.. The act of gory murder. She had become the angel of death in a brief, yet savage fit of rage and animalistic madness.

After an uncomfortable amount of time, she regained her mind and senses, shaking clear her head. Ripping off the shirt of the last lifeless boy, she wiped clean her face before looking over at Kim with clear, normal hues, yet they beamed slightly with a neon violet tint. Concern was laced within them, softness replacing the vicious predator that she had been only seconds ago.

She whispered his name before running to him, as if she were a child that had been reunited with her lost parent - desperately seeking comfort. She felt his weakness, smelled it. He didn't have the blood pressure to walk around the room. After gazing upon him, she shook her head and ripped away the duct tape, freeing him before getting on her knees before him - looking him over. "My love.. What have they done to you?" She asked, furrowing her eyebrows, almost in tears from his state. In a matter of moments, she had changed from a predator to a soft, gentle woman of concern. She held a hand over his bandaged paw, though not touching it as she moved her hand away again quickly - afraid of hurting him. "Oh Kim," She said, before looking down and wrenching the tape away from his ankles; Then moving to his wrists before pulling free the I.V's from his arms. Uncaring if he tried to protest or recoil in fear from her, she pulled him forward and snaked an arm around his waist; wrapping his good arm around her shoulders before pulling him to his feet.

"It'll be okay.. I'm here now." She whispered, easing him over to the couch before grabbing the phone and dialing Sam, giving him the address, and hanging up again to go and kneel at Kim's feet, staring up at him with wide, innocently fearful eyes. "Talk to me, okay? Just talk to me and don't close your eyes."

**Kim Ulander**

A couple hours had past and presently Kim remained stuck to the leather chair which after the period of being taped to felt apart of him. He sat there listening to the friends argue, complain, curse and talk and occasionally he would take part but with the passing of minutes his energy level began to slowly drift from him taking with it his conscious mind.

He'd lost track of time when the room was draped with a quick veil of darkness. As predicted the boys scattered to the lamps to check the electricity which was out with more cursing, some blaming others not.

Just then he heard a loud burst of glass shatter, coming from upstairs. Like the other boys he became alert with panic striking him; Was it someone he knew? Or maybe he would be in the middle of a burglary. The thoughts swam through his mind making his stomach turn. He groaned to himself with a clenched jaw, fighting back the medications side effects with great effort. One of the boys who shared a glance with the rest decided to investigate what had caused the noise, and left to go see. Kim watched him move across the elegant room to the sliding hide away door to vanish into the enormous house.

"You have no idea what you've just gotten yourselves into," he said in a raspy low growl, eyes now narrowed and watching the pretty blonde boy that was talking in a raised voice to gain some sense of control.

His mind was clouding up with the early stages of his body's wish to shut down. He closed his eyes, hearing a thump just above them; Making his head raise to the sound. He shook his head, only guessing who it was, because just than he felt a familiar wave of reassurance wash over him. If it was her, which he was betting on, he was saved and he'd be free soon. Just ride this out until she's within your sight and hope that they don't place that f*****g gun to your head again.

The boys started to scream and scatter about the large room after Victoria had made her ghostly appearance. She had entered and drained the blood from one boy to the next, until the number dropped to only a couple. Her voice spoke his name, and through the flood of the overpowering smell of death and alcohol Kim opened his eyes to see his fiance with a boy cradled in her vicious grip. Her words were playful in such a deadly way - only he could see past it, to see his Victoria.

"Well, these boys decided to make me a surprise guest of honor...so," he said in a nonchalant voice, eyes dropping from her to hold back another wave of nausea threatening to come back to him. He shut his eyes and reset his jaw, the sound of screams and death was to the max, and he wanted nothing more than another shot morphine and thiopental. "My arm..," he grumbled in a harsh voice, eyes closing trying to ignore the sounds; Not even caring if a man were to come at him with a gun or knife.

But the only person that came to him than was the woman, who loved him to the point of becoming a serial killer. Her touch was gentle but furious, ripping away the duct tape like rice paper. Her voice soothed over his wounds like little kisses, but the tug of the IVs and slight movements she bestowed upon his body bothered him. Grunting and groaning, he jerked away from the touches; the cold chill which once started a lustful spark within him, now like the stroke of a dagger. "Please..."

He let out a heavy gasp when he was forced to his feet, his arm shaking and slinking around her waist in a tight grip, pressuring his weakened strength. He watched her grab the phone and say Sam's name and quickly he leaned towards her to tell him in a firm voice what she'd said and to hurry. He was eased onto the couch of pins, his eyes snapping open and looking to her with a pleading look of frustration, which wasn't directed towards her, but his pain. "Just take me outside. I don't...I can't stay in here any longer."

Victoria Winters winced slightly at every grunt and groan that escaped him, as if it were her own pain. With each sign of hurt, her heart shattered, as she longed furiously to take that pain from him and make it her own.. But her emotions were crashing down on her. The smell of death was overwhelming her, weighing down upon her and forcing her into guilt. She could have handled it differently.. She didn't have to kill all those boys like she had. It could have been a peaceful, verbal exchange. Remorse settled upon her like a heavy stone on her back, and she looked up at Kim with wide, tearing eyes. "I'm sorry," She whispered as he pulled away from her touch, recoiled from it as if she were burning or stabbing him with every meeting of their flesh. Nonetheless, she lifted him to his feet and sat him upon the couch. Once finished on the phone with Sam, she sunk to her knees before him and stared up at him - though fighting away her tears. She didn't want to admit him her weakness, nor her remorse.

No.. They had wounded him. He was dying, bleeding to death. She shouldn't have remorse, they had it coming.

With a soft sigh, she pulled off her bloody shirt shamelessly, tossing it aside before standing and going over to a window. Taking a fist full of the soft curtain, she gave it a swift tug and pulled it down from it's rod- ripping the rod from where it had been drilled in the wall to hear it clash onto the floor. Once in hand, the girl quickly ripped the curtain, before wrapping it around her above the swell of her breasts, tying it into a make-shift replacement shirt before going back over to him and resetting her jaw - staring at his heavily bandaged hand. "I should have come looking for you sooner than I did," She muttered, bemused with herself as she glanced up into his eyes, slowly lowering her gaze and looking at his leg. She longed to reach out and touch him, to reassure him that it would be okay; To make sure he wasn't afraid of her. Anything but that..

She sensed his frustration, and from his thoughts, she knew it wasn't intended towards her. Giving a quick look around, she nodded obediently at his request. "Okay," She whispered, before standing and biting down on her bottom lip as she reformed the position - wrapping his good arm around her shoulders, holding one of her's around his waist as she pulled him up onto his feet. "Easy.. Easy." She whispered, voice gentle and soothing as she lead him out from the house; Slowly, but as swiftly as he could walk. "Just keep breathing.. Keep moving."

When she got him outside - grabbing a blanket on her way from the house - she lead him down the front walkway and sat him down against the section on one side of the house, built out in brick for plants and greenery, on the ground. "Lean back," She said, after wrapping the blanket loosely around his shoulders. She knelt down before him for a moment, a hand on his cheek and holding his gaze on her's as she checked his pupils for dilation, before she gave a stiff nod and pulled away - standing a few feet away from him with her back to him. Folding her arms over her chest, she bowed her head and grew as silent as death; Her mind playing the scene over and over again. A monster.. She had become a monster. "A monster," She whispered under her breath, not intending for him to hear her as she shook her head and hung her head shamefully. She was an animalistic, psychopathic serial killer. Perhaps the sooner she and Kim came to terms with that fact, the better. Maybe then, he would have the sense to leave her.

The tears were coming again. Welling in her eyes and stinging them, blurring her vision and tinting it a deep scarlet. Slowly, as if trying to physically hold them back, she brought a hand to cover her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. Not only had she murdered the boys; She had brutally slayed them in a massacre of blood and rage and gore. She had painted them on the walls, painted them on herself. Inhaling sharply, she let out a small, pained noise as she shook her head and trembled lightly. No. The situation could have been handled so much differently.. So much easier. She had given herself the title 'Vampire', and lived up to every common a*****e's expectation of the name. A merciless blood-sucking demon. Wincing softly, the tears came against her will - flowing from her eyes in gradual crimson streams as she cupped her hand over her mouth and crouched within herself.

Emotionally, she had put herself in pain. Perhaps it was an unintentional way to equal herself to her beloved - to suffer as he was, even if in a different sense. But the scene was playing over and over in her head, as if someone had broken the repeat button in her head and couldn't make it stop. Their horrified screams, their blood and brains spraying against her; but perhaps the most disturbing detail of it all was that at the time, she had enjoyed it. The screams had become music to her ears - sweet revenge. Their blood was sweeter than wine; Ecstasy. She could have bathed in it.

She had enjoyed slaying every one of those boys. What kind of monster had she become? How had she become that creature? Feeling herself heave slightly with her gentle sobbing, she shook her head - whispering an apology somewhere within her hyperventilating to her beloved. As he was bleeding to death, she was standing away from him and crying. No.. She could have been at his side, comforting him and reassuring him. "Kim.. I'm.. S-So sorry, I.." She cut herself off, though not facing him as she quickly wiped her eyes with her arms, smearing the sticky, bloody tears against her pale flesh. The feeling made her want to tear off her own skin, made her want to scream and go ballistic. She was a monster! A monster. All she wanted to do was be normal, to cry clear tears.. To not have the power to kill off six healthy men single handed.

Shaking her head in attempts to clear it, she closed her eyes only to feel more of those sick crimson tears fall from the corners of her eyes. Feeling them as they rolled down her cheeks to gather at her chin, where they dripped off once there was enough of them. Even if they had deserved their gruesome deaths, it shouldn't have come by the hands of her. Her unfair advantage over the weak human bodies.. Inhaling another sharp breath, she wiped her eyes again before sighing aloud - shaking her head again and clenching her jaw before forcing herself to be still. Her head was hung, hand covering her mouth. She was like a guilt-ridden, broken statue. Kim had to get to the hospital.. Focus on that, she told herself. Focus on getting him safe, getting him patched up, then focus on the rest.

**Kim Ulander**

Was she talking? He wondered this as he sat there on the couch, eyes vacantly staring ahead and through the wall and material. Another nausea wave coming over him, with a stronger force than before. A shiver of sickness rushed through his body causing him to bend over, elbows resting against his bent knees; fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, silently praying this to go away. His throat clenched with a clump of vomit rolling up to cloud his taste buds. In a reflex he swallowed and gagged, coughing and waking up from the trance he was gripped by.

The only thing he made out was that she was apologizing; he didn't know what words formed the sentence, but he didn't care. He lifted a hand up than higher to make an arm to try and silence her. "Please...stop apologizing," his words overall asking for her to stop apologizing whenever situations like this arose. They would get into conflict - Victoria apologized for it, even though she was taking care of him; being his protector.

"It's not..you. Don't you see that?" Once these words left his mouth he realized how untrue they were. She'd come in like a dark plague and killed them without mercy. But they'd hurt him..he understood why she did it, for if he was in her place he would have done the same thing and then some. He would have smiled at this realization, had he not been on the verge of getting sick in a room of witnessed mass murder.

Another trance fell over him with the voice of his girl speaking instructions to him. He listened and did as he was told, breathing regularly and staying close to her for support until they got outside. His lungs filled with the clean fresh night air he'd missed for more than twenty four hours, the rims of his eyes became wet and with one blink he felt them disappear - hiding that weakness. "My legs.." he mumbled, bones aching from the growing bruises caused by falling and rolling in the confines of the tight duct tape.

In a blur of darkness with his conscious mind he found himself sitting down near a tree and some bushes, he closed his eyes again, her hands cold and comforting now that he was out of that house. She was his light and grace right now; he needed her, just as he needed her when the boys were shoving those IVs in his veins and accusing him of being a man he didn't even know. Slowly her touch drifted from him, and the warmth consumed his wintered cheek. 'No..,' he thought he spoke but he didn't; he heard his voice in his mind and that was all.

He opened his eyes slowly against the heaviness that threatened them, and saw her standing there away from him; a perfect black silhouette in the darkness - his beautiful killer. He swallowed, noticing that the nausea was gone now, his breath was calm and despite his arm, legs and mind hurting he knew hed be okay. "Hey..." he murmured into the darkness, the breeze catching his words and sending them to her, kissing against her cheek with the gentle love he felt for her. He didn't want to speak words or show action of this affection, he wanted her to sense it. "Don...don't leave me," he said, words breathless. He'd originally meant to add 'here' at the end of that sentence, but he had to admit, it was what girls loved to hear, and he meant it either way.

**Victoria Winters**

As the words whispered from his mouth, and she felt them caress against her within the breeze - closing her eyes and leaning into it softly as if he'd physically embraced her. It made the cage of butterflies fling open, releasing that electric fluttering around within her, as it always did when he spoke so tenderly to her. Only this time, he was weak; Bleeding to death at her feet, yet she stood away from him so pathetically.. so selfishly. Her eyes fell closed, her mind repeating his words to replace the horrific memory. 'Don.. Don't leave me'. His voice sounded that of a desperate child.. As if begging her to stay after he'd suffered a nightmare, seeking her presence so the monsters would go away. Only in this case.. Wasn't it her that was the monster? He sought the presence of the monster for comfort, rather than seeking it as a normal man would - else where.

Slowly, in a graceful movement she spun around to face him; Her expression sinking at the sight. He was draining of his color. Blood had begun soaking through the thick wad of bandages on his hand, and she could hear his heartbeat growing slower and slower in his chest. He really was dying.. Slowly being taken from her.

Her eyes gazed upon him with an almost sympathetic sense of pity, as she stood before him - an invincible silhouette in the darkness. She felt her hair blow into her face from the breeze, sighing and brushing it away before making her way over to him obediently, like a puppy that had wronged her master. Sinking onto the ground next to him, she scooted close to him before pulling his legs outward - so they were straight against the pavement - and massaged her hands against them softly, to get the blood flowing in them again. "You're going to be fine," She began; Switching to the other leg, trying to get the blood circulating. Slowly, powerfully she massaged her fingers into his calves and thighs; Being more gentle around his ankles, where the tape had been placed, before she scooted back up to his side, nestling close to him to kiss his cheek quickly before focusing again.

"I'm not going anywhere." She proclaimed simply, before taking his bad arm very tenderly and holding the bandaged hand in her lap; slowly massaging his arm to circulate it. "And neither are you." Forcing a little smile that faded as soon as it came, her expression was laced with the immense concern she felt for him. Lifting his arm again, she bent it at the elbow before slowly, gently turning his wrist back and forth. After placing it gently back into his lap, she was gone from his side in a mere flash and blur - though she was back in her place within another instant, placing the container that held his severed pinky away from them, but close enough that she could grab it before they left. "Nor will you be a nine-fingered man. I promise." She said, stifling a little giggle in attempts to lighten the mood. Finally settling next to him, she looked over at him, she smiled a little before disappearing, reappearing on the other side of him so that she could claim his good arm, wrapping it around her shoulders so she could cuddle up against his side.

"I was so worried for you," She began, though feeling relief grace her with a brief moment of bliss to finally be against him again. 'I still am..' She thought, though refusing to verbalize it aloud. Lifting her head from where she had laid it in the crook of his shoulder, she stared up into his eyes, her's wide with concern searching back and forth within his gaze. "Just don't fall asleep, okay? Nothing like that.. Don't even close your eyes." She said, bringing a hand up to his warm cheek and holding his weak gaze to her's. Forcing a little smile through her desperate worry, she leaned up and nuzzled her nose affectionately against his before sighing and giving his neck a couple soft kisses. "What am I going to do with you?" She asked, mainly speaking it to no one as she lied her head back down against his chest, cuddling up against his side and wrapping an arm around his torso protectively.

He was safe now. Nothing would touch him.. Nothing would harm her beloved human, not now - and anything that dared try would face her would meet her wrath. The smell of his blood was seeping up through her nose, from where it was leaking through his bandages, and she refrained herself from unnecessary breathing. Very intensely, she listened to his heartbeat, listening to every beat and thanking whomever was above them for each one of them. Though they were slow from his normal pace, at least they were still there.. He was still with her. "Just don't close your eyes, baby." She whispered, keeping her own eyes open to stare ahead of them rather blankly. She had too much to focus on to drift into her own thoughts.. Instead she encased herself on listening his breaths, on his heart; Determined to keep him with her.

Kim Ulander sat there with his back to the tree, eyes forward waiting for the headlights of a beat up pick up with tired and glazed over eyes. He was exhausted and needed to relax but he found such an easy task impossible. Time was slowing down again wasn't it? It felt this way with the cold breeze brushing through the air, Victoria far off from him and their ride coming at a snails pace.

His eyes had drifted closed for but a minute and with the gentlest of touches he jerked forward and looked to his lover straightening his legs. He clenched his jaw and faced her with a strained look of masked over pain, biting his tongue to hold back the sounds of protest. Helpless and dreading words were spoken from her deadly mouth, telling him he would be alright, that she would be there. 'Good,' he thought to himself with long uneasy breaths filling his chest. Just a bit longer, than he'll be fine he was sure.

With the reawakening stiff muscles and veins Kim realized just how cold he had been upon reaching the outside front of the house; his body had lost a lot of blood and the chill in the air wasn't helping. His body began to warm itself with the circulating blood moving throughout his legs and arms; his bandaged hand swollen and numb to the touch.

Nine fingers? He chuckled wearily tilting his head to rest there on her shoulder surprised by how tired he was; each touch sensitive to setting off flutters of chills down his arms and neck. Suddenly, she moved from her spot beside him to reappear on the opposite side where his left arm was barely untouched by the horrible medications. He lifted his head and looked at her with fearless eyes seeing the opposite within her beautiful hues. Her words whispered to him sounding detached he shrugged his left shoulder: "I don't feel good."

He concentrated on her voice, obeying her words not to fall asleep or close his eyes, only half doing so with his mind focused on her and the grey dim-lit street that disappeared into complete darkness. Each time he blinked he held them closed for a mere second longer than opened them up to look back to that grey street.

After what seemed like years he opened his eyes after another short blink and drifted his sight towards the darkness up ahead, seeing finally the long awaited car headlights of the beat up vehicle. 'Victoria...look,' he thought to her, hearing his own voice and questioning whether he had actually spoken to her out loud or not.

**Victoria Winters**

Her stomach lurched slightly at his voice, but she gave a short nod in understanding as she slowly soothed her hand against his chest. "I know you don't feel good.. You'll feel better soon, I promise you - Just as long as you keep your eyes open." She said, her voice shaking slightly as she pulled up from where she had nestled her head against his chest to look at him. She couldn't lose - not after all she had done to save him. Not after how close she had come to him, after how much she had grown to love him. ..What if she lost him? What if he let those eyes close, only to never have them open again? She was a powerful creature, but no one was more powerful than death itself - and he claimed without mercy. No matter how perfect the man, no matter how blissful the woman, death held no exceptions. He claimed even the best of people without a second thought to cross his mind.

Sighing softly, she shifted her position and sat up straight - bringing a hand to his hot cheek, her eyes widening in alarm as she quickly moved it to his brow. "You're getting a fever," She whispered, biting her tongue to keep from screaming or crying again. Gently, she brought his arm away from her shoulders and embraced him against the cold marble flesh of her body, cradling his head against her chest and holding a hand against his face to try and contain his body's gradually growing heat. "F**k," She whispered - frustration overtaking her and irritating her entirely. He needed medicine.. He needed the blood and medical attention that she could not give him. She stared anxiously down the street, dark eyes watching intensely for the car. Too much longer, and she would just pick him up and run. Death would not claim him from her today.. Not without a good fight.

She would fight. Fight the battle that Kim could not, to the best of her ability. "You're going to be fine," She whispered again, though her voice cracked slightly as her eyes darted along the road.. 'Come on,' she thought. 'Show me headlights.. Just show me headlights!' Clenching her jaw, she pulled her hand away from his head and shook it slightly, pressing it to the pavement until it was cold again before shifting slightly, holding him firmly against her cold body. Desperately, she held her hand against his face again, giving a short whimpering noise. She had begun to panic, her eyebrows furrowing as she squeezed her eyes closed for a moment - trying to keep herself from losing it. "Just.. Talk to me Kim, please" She said urgently; Not intending for her voice to hold heat, but the desperate, panicking plea was clearer than her sternness. "Say something.. Don't go to sleep."

Her voice was shaking. His fever was raging, he was still losing blood and it was showing through the wad of bandages. His heart was beating so slowly.. In desperation, she looked down and took his bad arm, elevating it and trying to get the blood moving; Massaging her fingers tenderly yet urgently along his forearm and slowly turning his wrist again. Keep the blood moving.. Just make sure his blood circulates, and make sure he doesn't go to sleep. The blood from his bandages had leaked forward to coat his four remaining fingers, covering them in sticky crimson that made her squeeze her eyes shut tight as she tried to keep the blood circulating within his arm. "F**k, baby..," She whispered, tears watering her eyes though she forced them back and tried to refocus. "F**k!"

This wasn't happening.. Whomever was behind the sick joke - the man that had forced her into this twisted nightmare; She cursed them to the High Heavens. This couldn't be happening. She had to wake up!

But it wasn't a dream. Her heart was breaking slowly in her chest, wrenching at her organs until she felt she would pass out. She tried to keep her thoughts clear, keep focused on keeping him alive, but her mind clouded with the possibilities that were whirling in her head. If he died, what would she do? How would she end herself? Perhaps she would just go out into the sunlight on a windy day; Let herself burn up so that the wind could carry away her ashes.. Run into a pack of newborn fledglings and let them tear her apart. She couldn't cope with the loss of her beloved.. She didn't have anybody else. Lestat and Gabriel, maybe, but they could only be enough to keep her from throwing herself into death's embrace for so long.

Inhaling deeply, she bit down on her tongue to keep from sobbing. Slowly, she ran her hand through his soft black mane before gently placing a kiss on top of his head. He didn't have much time left.. Two or three hours, maybe. "I love you, Kim." She said quietly, eyes wide and fearful as she stared ahead of her; Like a deer that had stepped in front of the headlights of an incoming car. "And..," She swallowed, running her fingers through his hair again softly. "And I'm not going to let you die - but you have to will it too, you know? Just stay awake. Focus on me or something, hmm? On our wedding.. It'll be so beautiful." She mused, glancing down at the sparkling ring and smiling a little, but the smile faded quickly.

It will be beautiful, as long as he's there to meet her at the end of the aisle.

It seemed like an eternity passed.. The dark of night had begun to slowly break, and she looked around with wide eyes as the pitch-darkness began to gradually cease. Clutching slightly tighter onto Kim, she winced quietly. This was it.. At least, if he was to die then, she wouldn't be far behind. It was then she heard his thoughts echo in her head, snapping her eyes open upon command. 'Victoria...look,'

Her eyes caught the headlights - and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, her hues glimmered with hope. No. They weren't going to die today. She nodded, acting instantly and pulling away from him to kneel beside him, wrapping her arms around him before she lifted his weak form into her arms. "Okay, easy.." She whispered, heaving up slightly until she had a good hold of him - then speeding off down the street towards the oncoming car. Her mind drifted to it, in through it the metal and material until she could mentally see the e-brake handle. In a preternatural, telepathic command, the brake lurched and screeched the car to a halt so that it didn't breeze past or hit her.

In an instant, she was beside the driver's seat window and staring into it - swiftly letting Sam know it was her before she darted to the back of the truck and leapt up into the bed of it, landing heavily on her feet before she laid Kim down slowly, gently. "Okay.." She whispered, her voice as soothing as possible through her urgency and fearful concern.

Pulling the blanket from around his shoulders, she balled it up and easily slid her hand underneath the back of his head. "Lean up a little.." She whispered gently, before sticking the blanket underneath the back of his and lying his head back down against it again. "Okay.." She nodded, smiling reassuringly to him. "This is good," She said whilst leaning down to place her cold lips against his hot brow.. It was boiling against her lips. "I'll be right back to you," She began, looking down at him and nodding. "I promise."

Without waiting for further answer, Victoria was gone from his side in a flash - darting forward towards the manor to claim the container that held her beloved's severed finger. Glancing back at the house for a moment, she glared slightly as she blinked; With the movement, the fuse box exploded, and the house was set ablaze, to burn the evidence and gory bodies within it. Without watching it for a mere second, she darted away again, leaping back into the bed of Sam's truck and sitting next to him. She set the container beside her where Kim couldn't see it, and with a quick thrash of her fist, she broke out the glass carelessly from behind the passenger seat next to Sam. "Go to the hospital, Sam, and don't stop.. Not for stop signs, not for red lights - not even if a cop comes up behind us. Just go, okay?" She said, her voice firm and urgent, but soft as she looked away and turned her attention back to Kim.

Gently, she pulled his head into her lap and smoothed his hair back from his face. "You're going to be okay.. Keep your eyes open and focus on me, okay? Look at me," She said quietly, holding a cold hand against his cheek and forcing a pathetic attempt for a smile beyond her worry. Glancing around quickly, another fear settled into her stomach at the gradually brightening sky, uncovering itself slowly from the dark blanket of night. She had to get inside before the sun rose. "Please refrain from taking your time, Sam!" She called to him, fearful hues eyeing the sky before she turned her attention back to her dying beloved, thumb gently caressing his soft, hot cheek. Pulling his bad arm up, bending it at the elbow, she elevated the bleeding hand; Using her other hand to slowly, soothingly run her fingers through his raven black hair before just holding it atop his fevered brow.

**Kim Ulander**

'Talk to me Kim, stay awake, please.' The voice kept speaking out to him in that troubled and broken helpless way. Say something...but what? He clenched his jaw feeling the exhaustion press into him tighter than her hold to his arm. "I...uhm," he started but closed his eyes briefly to try and concentrate on what he was trying to say exactly. The breeze picked up making him shiver, covering his arms in tiny goosebumps until he realized it was her touch that was this breeze or a combination of the two. Inhale...exhale...inhale..

Sleep. That sounded like heaven right now. But he wouldn't sleep for to long, he told himself; he just wanted to close his eyes and focus on his breathing while he leaned against her like a feather pillow.

There was a mild numbness creeping up his waist from sitting to long and the amount of medications fighting against him. Was he even all here? He felt like a piece of his soul was standing beside him watching this whole scene; there was Vicky holding him with worry apparent through body motions, her voice and very clear in those young innocent looking eyes. And there was Kim - a bloody mess with the energy slipping out of him with the blood.

All at once things felt lighter, as though he was being lifted by angels to be carried up into Heaven. His eyes rolled back into his head only for that short drifting feeling than with the abrupt shift onto a cushion of someone's car he jolted awake again and stared around. Glass was suddenly being broken, and Vicky was yelling over him to Sam to step on it to the hospital. "No hospital...m'fine," he murmured tiredly, closing his eyes half way looking forward as Sam did as he was told and was going over the residental speed limit.

He nodded at her words and looked up to her, lulling in between being awake and focused to drifting back into that deadly sleeping state. As he thought of keeping focused he was out, and darkness took hold of him.

The darkness was inviting; it invited him and he felt it was familiar. He stayed within the confines of sleep deeply until a voice spoke to him, breaking through the oblivion to grip at him vicious and yank him back. His eyes opened and he gasped quickly, causing him to cough. Where was he? He looked around the room and struggled to sit up but felt too weak. He winced, and brought his eyes back to see Gabriel at the foot of his bed; Wearing nothing but his dark suit, from that gothic wardrobe as always. He gulped and held a steady wide-awake gaze with the angel, his breath picking up a bit in fear, "Am I dead...?" he asked stupidly.

The beeps in the room and regular heart beat monitor took his attention and gave him his answer. He looked around again and narrowed his eyes, squinting to see past the dim lit room. A hospital... he confirmed this in his own mind. He noticed the calender and looked at the number and day written on it going through his mind to wonder how long he'd been there. Only twenty four hours it seemed, nothing to horrible. His body still ached, but he was alive; Course, seeing Gabriel before anyone else was a wonderful start.

His eyes drifted from the designer dressed up blondie, who walked across the room to the couch, to the slumped over figure that was his loved fiance who clutched his hand. He noticed he didn't even feel the cold touch and looked from the I.V. to her again, moving his thumb in a very small back and forth stroke. "Victoria..." he whispered softly.

**Victoria Winters**

She stared down at him with wide eyes, her vision blurring with crimson tears as she tried to search his clouding, distant eyes. "Kim, wait.." She whispered, watching as his eyes fell closed. "No, no no" She said, smacking a hand gently to his cheek to try and rouse him, "Kim! Eyes open! Open your eyes! Please," She said, panic rising in her voice as she stared down at him with wide eyes. The breeze whirling by them as Sam sped along the streets whipped her soft brunette locks around her face, blocking her vision slightly as she gave her lover a light shaking. She screamed out his name, desperation clear, as tears began to roll down her cheeks. She was losing him.. He had struggled to do as she told him, but the exhaustion had been too much; Now he was unconscious and limp in her arms, as she cradled his head in her lap. "NO! Kim, you have to open your eyes!" She screamed, voice desperately trying to reach his deaf ears.

She was crying now, crying quietly as she loomed over him and grasped his good hand, holding his hot palm against her cheek.. She longed for his touch, but his hand was lifelessly limp and unresponsive under her grasp. Her mind was whirling, in a massive blur of emotions and noises, as her vision had clouded with the tears that blurred it. "You can't leave me," She whispered somewhere through the sobbing. She squeezed her eyes shut, her body trembling with the mass of emotions and adrenaline as she pressed her face into the hand of his she held to her. Shaking her head quickly, she whispered to him again against the roar of the streets.

Her emotional heart was shattering, the splinters of it flying carelessly up into her mind to pierce it until it began to break as well. Everything suddenly seemed very closed in, as if she had been trapped inside a tiny box and couldn't claw her way out. This couldn't be happening.. It had to be some sick, twisted nightmare. The emotional pain that had taken over her body made her stomach turn until she was nauseous enough to want to vomit. She swallowed back a mouthful of blood that had churned up from her stomach and gagged her, grimacing slightly as she felt a wave of goosebumps rush along her flesh. Everything was closing in on her, crashing down on her at one time until she felt she would just scream and never stop. The night was breaking gradually into dawn - soon it would be over anyway, she wouldn't have to think anymore or hurt anymore.

Though she could feel his pulse through his hand, it was slowing as he drifted towards death.. She was going to lose him. After everything they'd been through, after all the affection they shared, after all the words they'd spoken and after all she'd done to try and save him; She was going to lose him. It wasn't supposed to happen like this.. Yet even still, she couldn't bring herself to change him. That was out of the question - she was too thirsty, and either way she would end his life. He was too weak for the change now. It was too late to result to such desperate measures, and because of her naive ignorant fears and selfishness, she was going to lose him.

She could recall him telling her multiple times throughout their relationship not to apologize, but in her mind she was saying sorry repeatedly- she was speaking it aloud without knowing it. "I'm sorry," She whispered. "I'm so sorry.." This was the end.. She cradled his head in her lap, leaning over him and rocking slowly back and forth, crying and mourning over her dying lover. His pulse was slowing..

Suddenly, she was consumed by luminescence. The smell of his blood mixed with her scarlet tears was masked by the smell of rubber gloves and antiseptics and plastic as Sam backed his truck up to the ER. In a confusing blur of motions, she was suddenly surrounded by white and blue suits, voices speaking to her though everything echoed as if it she were a million miles away. They were wrenching Kim's limp form away from her swiftly, pulling him away towards the stretcher, ready to wheel him into a white abyss of white lighting and tubes and wires. In a moment of thoughtless instinct, she cried out loudly and clawed at them like a mother protecting her child; No, they would not take him from her! "Let him go!" She screamed, eyes wild as she was grabbed forth and held back by strong, yet pathetically weak human arms.

After a quick moment, she became aware of exactly what was happening, she submitted herself from the defensiveness, pulling away from the arms that held her back to rush up beside where they had begun to rush Kim away. He looked so innocently helpless.. So peaceful, as if he were already graced within the arms of death. Running up next to the stretcher, she stared down at him with wide, teary eyes. Even though he looked so pathetically gone, she wanted one last look at him - one last memory to capture, even if it wasn't a good one. "I love you," she whispered, before pulled aside by a white suit and held back from where they were running Kim through double doors.. In a moment, he was gone from her sight.

Victoria had been taken to a separate, private waiting room - for fear of the safety or disturbance of other grieving families. She was alone in a room, clouded with the scent of salty human tears, Lysol, and sweat.. Curling up in a chair, she drew in her knees close and curled up within herself - staring ahead of her into a wall, in expressionless wide-eye'd terror. Alone.. No one around - not a doctor nor a friend. Everything was distant; Every sight, every sound, every touch felt a million miles away from her. The room seemed so tiny.. Like a prison cell, though it was spacious and decorated. She hadn't felt this incredibly alone and abandoned since she was shoved into that padded room, around forty some years ago. She was five years old, and she had stayed mainly in that room until she was seventeen and escaped.

She had been given multiple doses of shock therapy in those days. Everyone had believed her to be mad, because she saw things over little girls didn't. Little girls saw imaginary friends, saw sparks of life in their dolls and toys, but none saw them so detailed as she saw Josette. The ghost. The woman whom had been with her almost every day of her twenty three years of human existence, until she was changed.

Now that her mind drifted back, not even back then had she felt so abandoned.. At least then she had Josette. But now, she had absolutely no one. No one but the mindless hum of a television somewhere in the room, the distant noise of the medical center outside the four walls and door. She had become apathetic through her depressed terror, staring ahead of her in complete dullness - not a feeling clear in her fawn-like hues. She didn't move a muscle for what seemed like an eternity, curled up within herself in that uncomfortable chair for hours.. She heard a clock somewhere, listened to every last soft 'tick..tick..tick' it gave. Blinking her eyes sent a few tears down her cheeks every once in a while, but she hardly noticed them against the numbness she felt.

She had brought him to a hospital to die.. To be hooked up to wires as they fucked around with his body - trying to keep him hanging by a thread until that heart rate monitor gave that dull drone noise, and then they all rushed to try to bring him back with their fancy technology and twelve plus years of medical school.

Slowly, she let her eyes fall closed. The room transformed from a distant, cloudy sight to complete darkness as she listened to the distant echo of the clock. After another uncomfortable amount of time, she heard the door open, and lifted her head to look over at the lab coated man whom walked in and stood before her. He was a handsome human, tall and slender with tan skin. She stared over at him, her face drained of emotion. She awaited the words very clearly, counting down the seconds in her head. 'I'm very sorry to have to tell you this..'

"You can see him now, miss." He said plainly.

She paused, as if at first she didn't understand. "..What?" She asked, voice cracked with the tears and lack of energy. The man before her glanced down at his clipboard.

"Kim Ulander..? You can see him now. He's asleep though, I'll have to ask that you don't wake him."

It didn't make sense.. He was alive?

"He's alive?"

"Yes ma'm."

Almost as quickly as the words were spoken, she shot to her feet with wide, tearing eyes. He smiled a little, though it was clear he had become a little nervous. "I'll show you to his room."

He lead her down a hallway, and she followed him quickly with wide-eye'd anticipation. They'd saved him.. They'd saved him, and he still lived. He didn't even sound unsure of his condition. Perhaps he'd be okay. Maybe they had made it just in time to save him. Her eyes glimmered with hope, wide-eye'd desperate hope. When the male MD opened up the door for her, she stepped in cautiously - eyes searching the room around her desperately until her eyes caught her lover, laid out on one of those hospital cots. He was hooked up to wires and tubes, laid out and sleeping peacefully - without the sound of the heart rate monitor to assure her, she would have thought he was dead.

The man behind her had closed the door after saying.. Something. She hadn't cared enough to listen. Cautiously, with wide eyes she made her way over to Kim like a graceful dark silhouette in the darkened room before she was standing next to his bed, staring down at him in utter disbelief. He was alive.. Breathing regularly now, even though he was asleep. He had tubes stuck very slightly into his nose, giving him oxygen - wires and tubes sticking out of his arms, for the monitors and the fluid donors. Her gaze softened lightly as she loomed above him, standing very stiffly at his bedside; Watching him silently, trying to reassure herself repeatedly that he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead.. He was with her still, and soon he would wake and she would hear his voice again, and when he got the strength back he would hold her.

Easing her eyes down his sleeping form, she caught where they had sewed his finger back on.. The hand was bandaged again, but neatly with clean white cotton. Shifting her gaze to where his good hand lied against the sheets, she reached down very slowly - fearfully, as if he would shatter or disappear when she touched him, but she eased her hand softly onto his; Comforted by his familiar warmth. Her eyes fell closed slowly in the relief that turned her stomach. It set butterflies loose in her body and made her heart flutter. He was alive.

It took massive effort for her to pull her hand away from his, but exhaustion had begun to set in as she slowly regained her feeling and lost the numbness that had taken over her. His human warmth had melted the thin layer of ice that had surrounded her. Quickly, she pulled a chair up to his bedside and sunk into it slowly, glancing at her beloved before smiling a little and taking his good hand again softly into her's. Holding onto it lightly, she brought an arm up and slouched slightly against the bed - lying down her head. Relief washed over her for a good amount of time, as she reassured herself over and over before finally letting sleep consume her in it's dark cloak.

She fell asleep to the sound of his heart monitor, and the feeling of his warm hand, listening gratefully and feeling his heart pulse against her cold touch.

The sound of beings coming and going stirred her slightly; The sound of familiar and distant voices echoing in her mind as if her head were hollow. Only briefly did she listen to these noises, before she was sent back into sleep's darkness. Something - whether it had been the warmth of Kim's hand or the gentle rustling of other's voices, or the constant, beautiful 'beep..beep..beep' of Kim's heart monitor - told her very simply that, through it all, everything would be okay. She didn't dream.. Her sleep consisted of dark, pitch blackness and silence until she felt Kim rustling underneath her hand.. His voice then. 'Am I dead?' His voice was rousing her. Lestat was off in the background somewhere. When had he gotten here? Whom else was there? She felt the presence of the angel.. When had they all come? There had been only Kim and her in the room when she had arrived. Silently, in certain ways she was grateful for the other's presences. In other's, she wished it was just her and Kim..

But at least this way, perhaps she would be able to control what she said a little better. Perhaps she could fight tears back a little harder. Slowly, at the sound of his voice calling her name, she felt her eyes slowly, cautiously open upon command. At first, her vision was blurry. Had she been crying in her sleep? She lifted her head slowly, almost afraid of what she would see, but at the sight of Kim awake beside her, her heart stopped for a moment and she smiled. "Kim.." She whispered, as if almost reassuring herself that it was really him. "Hey," She said quietly, though a little less disbelieving as she tightened her hold on his hand slightly. In that moment of realization, her body almost kick started back into motion - her heart fluttering with the mixture of emotions crashing down on her. Relief, excitement, blissfulness and love.

Victoria pulled his good hand up to her face, swiftly but tenderly, nuzzling against it and kissing his knuckles several times before opening his palm and cradling his paw against her cheek - giving the palm of his hand a quick kiss once it was finally against her flesh again.

She scooted her chair closer to his bed, closing her eyes and feeling tears slip easily from her hold on them. She almost winced, pressing her face into the warmth of his hand. "I was so afraid." She began, though not wanting to bombard him with babbling speeches. Her thumb caressed slowly back and forth against the back of his hand, her free hand holding onto his wrist as if never wanting to let him go again. She longed to crawl up into the bed next to him, to shower him with kisses and to embrace him and sob pathetically out of the joy she felt - but she held back, kept her senses about him. He was just waking.. He was probably still tired. 'It'll happen,' she reassured herself. 'Soon we'll hold each other again.'

She opened her eyes again, staring at him with happiness glittering, masking the disbelief in her hues. "I'm so.. Glad that you're okay," she said with a hushed tone, as if breathless. Smiling slightly, her eyebrows furrowed lightly, pulling together as she closed her eyes again and leaned into his hand once more. He was okay.. Everything would be okay.

**Kim Ulander**

He watched with tired glazed eyes as she woke up and looked to him, the obvious joy clear and sweet across her face, making her tired ageless face look untouched by the event that had just happened less than twenty four hours ago. He felt tense and weak in a body that was now clean of those medications, his left fingers moved perfectly reminding him that his pinky had been severed off. He looked to his hand and lifted it, bandaged yet again but he felt the nerves attached to something: they'd connected it. Absently he watched Lestat and the angel leave the room, and in watching the door close behind the two he felt the swell of his own excitement begin to bubble within his chest.

His heart began to race while he turned to look at his fiance, there beside him as she always had been - since the day he'd met her. Their love was not equal than; offbalance in the beginning, but he'd come to terms that she was his girl, the woman he wanted and the only friend he could ever trust.

With a small ounce of strength he squeezed her hand, with hues unable to hide the equal devotion he had for her in return. Laced in those eyes was the gratitude for her coming to his rescue, and saving him after so much had happened to him. It had taken a freak accident like that - the adventure he'd always dreamed of - to come sneak up on him, and take him from what he treasured more than anything to make him realize he did need her to be beside him. Those words 'You'll have to marry me' he meant to the fullest.

Slowly he nodded his head up and down to her words, swallowing trying to gain strength of his voice again. "I was too," he admitted with a one shoulder shrug, his playful smile coming across his lips slowly. "But hey...it was an adventure. Not many people can say they've been kidnapped by amatuers in their lifetime, am I right?" he teased lightly, feeling pretty good for being a guy in a hospital bed for hours.

He sighed softly and leaned back against the propped pillows on the medical cot, feeling strangley alien to this place even though it was top class and the best money could buy. Guess I'll have to thank that vampire later than, he noted to himself. "I wanna go home," he said along with his sigh, eyes looking forward than back at her with a convincing smile. "I feel better...Really. I hate hospitals. M'not in a coma, or need to be hooked up anymore so..." he allowed his words to trail off, reminding himself that he was talking to the wrong person for this.

She would make him stay even if it meant double or triple checking his health.

**Victoria Winters**

Her head turned very briefly as the other vampire departed, flashing him a look of gratefulness before pulling her gaze back to her Kim - smiling beautifully through her relieved tears. Slowly, she brought his hand away from her cheek to hold it against the bed - his one paw within both of her hands, her thumb stroking softly against the back of his hand as she looked at him amorously. As he looked at her, she listened as the monitor studying his heart rate sped up slightly, and she gave a gentle laugh before shaking her head. Leaning down slightly, she kissed her cold lips softly against the warmth of his hand.

She never thought that they would have gotten this far. She had thought him wild as soon as she had met him. One of those guys that doesn't really settle down.. Business over women. In many ways, she had been right about that. He was wild, and he always would be, but in several different ways that was one of the things she loved most about him. He was wild, but he was loyal. He was funny, and though he bore a silver tongue, he was perfectly romantic.

A quick memory flashed in her mind of when she first saw him. She had been alone on the balcony at Rob's stupid party. He had been talking to her before also speaking to some Martin fellow about a book, afterwards getting kicked out for one reason or another; And she had followed him out the door.

She snorted in laughter at the memory, lowering her gaze from his, to hold it against where her hands encased his uninjured paw. Feeling as he squeezed against her gently gave her a relieving sense of hope that she couldn't express.. He was getting his strength back, even if it was gradual. With a gentle smile, she laced her fingers in between his and pulled his hand up to hold it to her chest. She felt as if behind some kind of thin, invisible barrier; Perhaps it had been all the wires, or just the atmosphere of being in a hospital. People generally didn't just climb up into their partner's hospital bed and hold them. It was the closest she could get to him, but it was close enough.

But how she longed so desperately to get closer.. No, she told herself. Just take what you can get. He'll be all better soon and in your bed.. In our bed. She turned her attention back to him, snapping out of her thoughts as she spoke before stifling quiet laughter. "You could look at it that way, I guess." She said, her voice hushed as she gently brushed her thumb against where she held a hand softly against his inner forearm. "No," she teased in return, though her voice was still laced with that instinctive concern for him.. Something about the memory, of him being strapped to that chair and dying in her arms pained her to even mention - but she played it off well. Bring him comfort.. Make him laugh, keep him smiling. "Not many people, I'm sure, have lived to tell such a tale." She began, bringing an arm away from holding onto his to tenderly poke at his belly, before returning it back to where it was. "Guess you're just that badass."

She giggled softly, before letting her eyes rest closed as she inhaled deeply. "You have no-" She shrugged, opening her eyes again and lowering her gaze in gentle pained, yet hidden, sorrow. "No idea how.. Glad I am, that you're okay. I thought you were-" She paused again, swallowing and shaking her head lightly as if the very thought disturbed her. She trailed off, laughing rather nervously before gently rubbing a hand up and down briefly against his forearm. At his request, she elevated her gaze to hold his - her expression almost instantly sinking. "Kim..," she held his gaze, caught his smile but she didn't buy it. "I want to go home too but, I - we can't yet. You're not strong enough.. I can't risk," She stumbled lightly over her words, before finally just forcing herself to hush.

Giving an uneasy smile, she shrugged lightly. "I just forced back an apology.. Are you proud of me yet?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood as she hoped desperately that he wouldn't grow irritated with her. She quickly gave up the pathetic attempt, her expression sinking lightly again as she gently ran her thumb back and forth against his warm flesh. "A few more days, Kim.. Until you have the strength to do more than squeeze my hand." She said quietly, though avoiding his gaze in gentle fear that it would only grow aggravated towards her. "I'll get you out of here as soon as I can, okay? I promise." She said, looking up into his gaze cautiously. "You have my word.. I won't make you stay here for an unnecessary period of time."

**Kim Ulander**

He chuckled at the new lingo she used to describe him and to boost his own ego he played it off, acting sly and slick with a small shrug again from his one shoulder, eyebrow arching up when he caught her glance winking quickly. "fraid' so," he sighed the words out like he was in some way disappointed.

A serious moment came after the funny bit which was predicted; Victoria was on the verge of jumping him where he lay to cover him in kisses and weep tears of happiness over the miracle second chance he was given. "Shh," he whispered, attempting to calm her. He was fine, a bit sore but he was alive and well thanks to the treatment of the hospital.

"I know," he replied in another whisper, his words almost lost to the desperate struggle to hold herself back. With the answer being a negative 'no' and than some he closed his eyes and leaned back into the pillows, taking in a deep breath surprised by how calm he felt in this dim lit room with it's unusual comfortable feel. It was from the illusion and the set up being of something other than the 'normal' medical room.

He nodded at her words, believing what she'd said about not wishing to keep him there longer than he needed to be. He opened his eyes and stared blankly at her and sighed, "I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I hate hospitals."

**Victoria Winters**

She watched him, an amused glitter going over her eyes as she gave a soft chuckle and shook her head. Listening to him sigh out the words, she raised an eyebrow upward curiously. "What are you sighing about?" She asked, though there was soft teasing in her tone as she spoke to him. "Don't act so disappointed," She whispered, though she still teased him lightly, her voice softened as she let her eyes fall closed. 'He's okay,' She told herself. 'He's just a little weak and tired yet, but he's okay.' He was her Kim again.. Though, as she looked at his face, she could still see a faint trace of that innocent helplessness; He was slowly coming to again.

His light 'Shh' snapped her out of whatever had consumed her in that thick emotion of relieved yet heartbroken depression. She nodded softly to him, as if given a command, and smiled a little. Leaning down, she kissed tenderly against the palm of his hand. His mortal warmth comforting against her vampiric cool. Shaking her head once to clear it, she gave a swift nod and forcing herself to ease with his attempts to calm her. "There are very few times in my existence where I have felt completely helpless," she began, "But I have never felt as helpless as I did while watching you die." Her voice had become blunt - what did she really have to hide now? What words were too painful to hear? She swallowed, brushing her thumb back and forth softly against his inner wrist.

'I know' he whispered.. But did he really know? Was he as aware of her desperation as he thought he was? Of her own pain? Of how much she had been affected by that.. Experience? She fought back her questions, keeping them in the secret vault of her mentality. Rather than speaking them aloud, than making the mood even heavier than it was through all the mixed emotions that were thickening the air, she merely nodded. Kept herself comforted by his voice. All that mattered was that he was alive, and not comatose in any means.

With a low sigh, she gave a gentle shrug - looking up at him as if guilty of something. "I just.. Don't want to put you in danger." She said quietly, before looking away and biting down on her lip lightly. "You understand that right? I mean.." She trailed off, shrugging before pulling his hand away from where she held it close to her to hold it softly against the bed. She pulled her own hands away then, holding her head up with one and playing softly with the sheets of his bed with the other. They felt comfortable enough.. Comfortable for hospital sheets, anyway. She longed to be in their bed, together and close bodied. Smiling a little, she looked back at him. "You didn't," she mused, "But I can't imagine anyone that particularly enjoys being at the hospital." She said quietly, before shrugging again.

"I hate it too," She admitted. "And I'm not even the one in the bed. Hospitals are terribly weary places.. But at least this room isn't too terrible," She gave a quick look around before shrugging. With a soft sigh, she stood slowly from her chair and leaned over his bed, leaning down to kiss her lips against his very softly. An act of affection and reassurance as she smiled a little, closing her eyes and resting her brow gently against his. "I'll get you out of here as soon as you really are better." She said quietly, pausing for a long moment before drawing away and looking at him, smiling a little and again taking to her chair at his bedside. Resetting her jaw, she took his hand again softly within one of her's, holding her head up with the other - her arm bent at the elbow.

"Do you need anything?" She inquired lightly, though her eyes had begun to hold slight exhaustion within them again as she looked down at where her hand met with his.


End file.
